A thriving technology sector,1 built on accessible and safe digital ecosystems, is widely acknowledged as a bedrock of economic transformation and growth.2 However, a fundamental challenge remains: Can the transformative potential of the digital economy be fully realized without addressing persistent gender disparities within the tech sector?
Despite progress in women’s participation in the workforce, women remain underrepresented in tech globally, comprising only 28.2 percent of global STEM careers.3 Additionally, while women’s representation has increased at the entry level over the past decade, the “glass ceiling” effect is still evident, with significant barriers hindering women seeking advancement into STEM C-suite roles. Women make up a quarter of non-STEM leaders, but only one-tenth in STEM.4
In sub-Saharan Africa, as much as 30 percent of roles in STEM sectors are held by women, according to some assessments, putting the region marginally ahead of the global average.5 Africa as a whole also boasts the largest share of women graduates in STEM subjects in the world.6 However, the struggle for adequate representation, especially in the C-suite, remains a significant challenge, with fewer African women making it into top roles than in other regions. Women also remain starkly underfunded when it comes to start-up financing.
This article draws on feedback from women working in tech across Africa to explore what’s preventing more women from entering the sector and reaching the top (see sidebar “About the research”). The analysis takes a close-up view of three critical career stages—leaving education and entering the workplace, progression in the formal workplace, and start-up financing—which could be the focus of renewed efforts to increase access and participation by women in tech.
One step ahead: Africa performing well relative to other regions in women in tech and entrepreneurship
Economies in sub-Saharan Africa have made some progress toward gender parity in recent years, improving their score on the Global Gender Gap Index by 5.6 percentage points since 2006, with 68.4 percent of the gender gap closed in 2025.7 However, the region still ranks among the lowest in the world, with parity an estimated 107 years away.8 By contrast, when it comes to parity in tech, sub-Saharan Africa has pulled slightly ahead of global averages, with better levels of representation across several critical indicators, including the number of women STEM graduates, the share of women in tech roles, and the number of women entrepreneurs.
Almost half of all STEM graduates in Africa are women
With 47 percent of all STEM graduates from African universities being women, Africa has a higher share of women STEM graduates than Europe (42 percent), Asia (41 percent), South America (41 percent), North America (39 percent), and Oceania (38 percent) (Exhibit 1).9
Relatively high educational success in STEM across Africa is supported by a variety of factors, including an increase in policies and institutions supporting women and girls across the continent, as well as targeted interventions to lay the groundwork for a more inclusive and innovative tech industry. For instance, Africa Code Week has reached more than 17 million young people since 2015, and almost half of participants in 2023 were girls.10 She Code Africa, which empowers young women and girls with coding skills and resources, including coding boot camps and community events, had benefited more than 40,000 individuals by the end of 2023.11 Another notable initiative, Women Techsters, aims to empower five million girls and women across Africa with digital and tech skills to bridge the digital gender gap in low-income African communities.12
Additionally, as economies in the region shift toward technology and innovation and demand for STEM skills increases, research has found that women and girls may be aspiring to these fields as a path to access better job opportunities, achieve financial stability, and future-proof their careers.13 The rise of AI may offer an opportunity to further boost this trend: Between 2018 and 2025, an increase in women AI talent listed on LinkedIn narrowed the STEM gender gap in 74 of 75 economies, including some in Africa, and underreporting could hint at an even larger emerging AI talent pool of women.14
Despite a greater proportion of women in Africa’s tech workforce than in the rest of the world, less than 20 percent of top roles are held by women
Global data highlights that Africa has a marginally higher representation of women in the STEM workplace than the global average (30 percent versus 28 percent).15 However, there remains a significant opportunity to grow, especially at the leadership level.
Our research found that less than 20 percent of publicly listed companies in Africa with C-suite tech roles had a woman in that role. Furthermore, just 3 percent of companies with revenues that exceeded $1 billion had women in top tech leadership roles. By comparison, the number of women in senior management roles in the world’s top five big tech companies ranges from 21.1 percent to 35.5 percent.16
At a country level, South Africa and Nigeria emerged as leaders, with the greatest number of listed companies with women occupying C-suite tech roles between them. In South Africa, 20 out of 116 of these companies (17 percent) are led by women; in Nigeria, it’s 15 out of 75 companies (20 percent). Egypt, Tanzania, and Namibia, by contrast, had the lowest proportion of women-led companies with women in leadership roles, at 4 percent, 9 percent, and 10 percent, respectively, while Botswana, Malawi, Seychelles, Sudan, and Uganda had no women in these roles at women-led companies (Exhibit 2).
About two-thirds of companies in our analysis that had women in tech leadership positions were concentrated in just three sectors—financial services, consumer goods and retail, and energy and materials—with financial services having the highest share of representation of women in C-suite tech roles (roughly 20 percent), followed by consumer goods and retail (14 percent), automobiles and transportation (11 percent), and energy and materials (9 percent).
A high proportion of entrepreneurs in Africa are women, but only about 10 percent of tech start-ups are led by women
Africa boasts a higher share of women entrepreneurs than the rest of the world, with approximately 26 percent of businesses in Africa founded by women.17 This is more than double the proportion of businesses created by women in Europe (12 percent) and significantly higher than in the Asia–Pacific region (16 percent).18 However, only about 20 percent of tech start-ups in Africa have at least one woman cofounder, and about 10 percent have a woman CEO. In Ethiopia, men founders outnumber women founders by approximately two to one (Exhibit 3).
Plugging the leaks: Three key stages eroding women’s representation in tech
Despite Africa’s relatively strong performance when it comes to women’s representation in the tech workforce and its robust share of STEM graduates and women entrepreneurs, significant gender disparities in tech persist across the continent, particularly in leadership. What is hindering the progression of women STEM workers across their professional lives? Our analysis has identified three primary points of challenge: the “school to work” transition, the rise to industry leadership, and financial support for women tech entrepreneurs.
There is a steep drop-off in women’s representation from higher education to leadership roles in the tech workforce
Our research highlights a marked decline in the representation of women in Africa from secondary education through to executive leadership roles in the tech industry. While women account for approximately 48 percent of secondary school enrollments and 47 percent of STEM graduates, their participation drops to between 23 to 30 percent in tech roles. This downward trend continues into leadership, with less than 12 percent of tech leadership positions and just 10 percent of CEO roles in tech start-ups in Africa held by women (Exhibit 4). Women’s underrepresentation also varies by department, with the highest representation in product management roles (41 percent) and the lowest in software development (8 percent).19
This disconnect between academic achievement and professional opportunities for women is a global phenomenon,20 but it is more pronounced in Africa, suggesting that systemic social and cultural barriers on the continent may be impeding the recruitment of women into technology roles. Research in South Africa found that ingrained societal views that the technology sector is inherently “masculine,” biases and stereotypes about women’s technical skills and leadership abilities, and limited social capital and mentorship networks for women all work to limit the participation of women in tech. These societal factors are compounded by institutional factors, including limited entrepreneurial policies to boost the participation of women in tech and entrepreneurship.21
Women face more barriers to career progression
Once in the tech workforce, women report experiencing significant barriers to career progression despite enjoying high levels of job satisfaction.22 Nearly 90 percent of the women we surveyed across Africa reported they are happy or very satisfied with their careers, in line with studies in other regions, such as the United States.23 However, about a quarter of respondents reported gender bias and limited opportunities for skills development as barriers to career advancement. Previous McKinsey research has found that, while women are less likely to be promoted across all industries and roles, the gender gap for women in tech roles is more pronounced, with only 52 women being promoted to manager for every 100 men promoted.24
Also in line with global research, our survey finds that traditional gender roles and caregiving responsibilities fall mostly to women, creating additional burdens. For example, in the wake of the pandemic, McKinsey research found that mothers in North America were three times more likely than fathers to do most of the housework and caregiving.25 Plus, limited mentorship and allyship in the workplace mean that clear paths toward advancement are scarce.26
Only 10 percent of respondents in the McKinsey Women in Tech in Africa Survey reported that they experienced no barriers to career advancement. In fact, the barriers faced by women in STEM careers can be so restrictive that they can ultimately push women out of the workforce. Twelve percent of respondents reported leaving the workforce prematurely. This is lower than the rates reported in other surveys for other regions. For example, in a 2023 survey, 19 percent of women living in the United States, the United Kingdom, and India reported planning to leave the tech workforce within the year.27 In our survey, half of those who left had between six and ten years of experience, and the reasons for leaving included career development (21 percent), work environment (19 percent), work–life balance (16 percent), economic factors (16 percent), and family responsibilities (14 percent) (Exhibit 5).
Women-led start-ups attract significantly less funding
Entrepreneurial funding support for women in tech remains low, with little meaningful improvement in the past few years, and women-led tech start-ups enjoy substantially less access to funding than their men-led counterparts.
In 2024, women-led ventures received only 1.0 percent ($21 million) of total funding for tech start-ups in Africa, about 100 times less than what start-ups founded by men received (94.0 percent, or $2.1 billion). While mixed-gender teams secured a relatively higher share at 5.5 percent ($123 million), the gap remains stark.28
This is mirrored in previous years. In 2022, African women-led tech start-ups secured just 2 percent ($115 million) of total funding, up slightly from 2021 but still 35 times less than men-led start-ups.29 Additionally, funding for mixed-gender teams has experienced a downward trend, falling from 19 percent in 2019 to 14 percent in 2022, showing increased volatility for funding for women-led teams (Exhibit 6).
Leveling up: Three levers to drive greater inclusion of women in tech
Africa is ahead of the curve on key metrics when it comes to women in tech, but much work remains to close the loop and include more women in the sector. Based on insights from our research and drawing on our work across the continent, we have identified three primary areas of focus for African tech leaders to drive further inclusion and lay the foundations for more resilient, future-ready economies.
1. Plugging the ‘school-to-work’ leak by building innovative recruitment strategies
Almost half of Africa’s women STEM university graduates are not making it into the tech workforce. To plug this skills leak, companies can innovate to build the talent pipeline for women talent. A good place to start could be by partnering with universities and high schools to align curriculums with industry requirements and identify promising women and girls while they’re still in school. Targeted scholarships, dedicated internships, and apprenticeships could help provide support, hands-on experience, and industry exposure to women students, and companies could engage directly with women through career events, workshops, or mentoring sessions. Internships can also help expose women who are considering a career in tech to women role models and mentors, who could offer valuable practical advice, inspiration, and support at this critical juncture.
Using data-driven insights to refine recruitment to identify high-demand skills and predict future needs could help organizations target the right candidates at the right time. The reality is that African businesses are competing globally for STEM talent, which is in short supply almost everywhere, so a focused and strategic approach is needed.30 Building a compelling employee brand that understands what women talent may value, including flexible working opportunities and good opportunities for career advancement, then, will likely be key.
2. Changing attitudes and mindsets toward gender in the workplace and getting the right policies and practices in place to support the advancement of women
Once women are in the tech workforce, companies can do more to keep them there by providing optimal working conditions and clear paths toward advancement. This starts with creating an inclusive workspace that supports gender equality and helps women balance their professional and personal commitments across different life stages, such as pregnancy and menopause. This could include, for example, structured return-to-work programs with personalized support or incorporating mentorship and upskilling opportunities, which have been shown to assist women reentering the workforce and reduce attrition after career breaks.31 Additionally, offering childcare assistance can ease burdens on working mothers.
McKinsey research has shown that even companies that are relatively diverse and inclusive can struggle to create bias- and discrimination-free work environments.32 Thus, African tech organizations could prioritize and train managers and hiring managers in bias awareness and best practices for recruiting and promoting talent, such as standardized interview guides and rubrics for assessment. Additionally, an annual gender pay equity audit, coupled with an aspiration to reduce disparities, could signal a commitment to fair compensation practices.
Further, organizations can nurture individual growth and create a strong pipeline of women leaders by promoting lifelong learning, mentorship, and sponsorship initiatives. For example, by assigning senior leaders as sponsors to high-potential women, companies can offer women invaluable hands-on experience and access to C-suite networks to help ensure they can step into top jobs when the time is right. The World Economic Forum’s DEI Lighthouses report finds that five common success factors define successful interventions to address parity in the workplace: a nuanced understanding of root causes, meaningful definitions of success, accountable and invested business leaders, context-appropriate solutions, and rigorous tracking and course correction.33
3. Increase access to financial resources and funding for women founders and entrepreneurs
Global research has found that women-led start-ups do better along several dimensions, including job growth and revenue creation, than companies started by men.34 Yet our analysis shows that women founders in Africa are 100 times less likely to raise financing for their businesses. To tip the scales so that more funding flows to women founders, stakeholders—including governments, investors, and the private sector—could step up to create more dedicated grant programs for women entrepreneurs and provide aspiring women entrepreneurs with mentorship opportunities to help them build relationships and better understand investor criteria to improve pitching. Efforts to raise awareness about women-led innovation, such as the Female Innovation Index, could also go a long way toward facilitating further action and investment.
The case for gender parity in the workplace is unambiguous. Diverse leadership has been shown to drive better, more innovative, and inclusive decisions, leading to broader product reach and better profits and share performance among other benefits, while diverse workforces have also been shown to be more adaptable and better positioned to lead transformations.35 A strong, diverse talent base from entry-level to leadership is therefore likely to be vital in driving and sustaining tech-enabled economic growth in Africa. This is becoming ever more critical as AI reshapes economies and the tech talent gap widens.36
Parity in tech is achievable in Africa based on the fundamentals, but much remains to be done to prevent women from “dropping off” at key stages in their professional journeys if the continent wants to reap the tech dividend. Proactive leadership that takes a focused, data-driven approach to tackle persistent inequality in the sector will be vital. Stakeholders can start by closing the loop in these three areas to address systemic inequalities and create the conditions for women to rise, thrive, and contribute more fully to the building of an equitable and prosperous Africa for everyone.
